LAS CRUCES – The Tiny House Movement seems to be drawing big interest among Las Cruces city government officials.

“I’m definitely interested in the idea” Mayor Ken Miyagishima said. “but I’d like to see more information about it.”

The Las Cruces City Council will meet for a June 27 work session to learn more about and discuss the impacts of possibly establishing a tiny house subdivision in Las Cruces. In a presentation made to the council last week, a group of Las Cruces veterans, including David Boje, a New Mexico State University Regents professor in business management; Walt Baker, a retired U.S. Navy captain; Lawrence Orvis, chairman of the city’s Veterans Advisory Board; Shannon Reynolds, who served in the U.S. Air Force, and Ernest Ramsey, have proposed a tiny house subdivision be established.

A tiny house is pulled by a truck in the Petrified Forest and moves close to a recreational vehicle. (Photo: WikiMedia Commons photo)

Boje said a significant consideration of the tiny houses is their construction.

“They are tiny homes with green construction in an ecological village,” Boje said. “They are completely self-contained units. They have compost toilets, a gray water system utilizing reclaimed water, solar water heaters and additional photovoltaics.”

Boje added tiny houses are required to meet U.S. Housing and Urban Development construction guidelines, which are stricter than construction standards for recreational vehicles or mobile homes.

The interior of a tiny, mobile house in Portland, Oregon is shown in this undated photo. (Photo: WikiMedia Commons photo)

Boje and Baker agreed Las Cruces would be an ideal location for a subdivision of tiny houses.

“We could make it every bit compatible with the desert environment,” Boje said. “We could use some the sciences developed here to work with the desert.”

Monthly rent for tiny homes would likely range from $25 to $50 a month. Boje said rent-to-own agreements could also be arranged.

“There are 800 veterans on (the NMSU) campus and these options would make tiny homes affordable to them,” Boje said.

That piqued interest among city councilors when initially considering a tiny home subdivision from a larger perspective.

“If we’re going to do it, it needs to be done right,” Miyagishima said.